Name Dropping
When I was a little girl about 12 years old, I often went to small library that was right near my house. It was on the lower floor of a bank. It looked like a colonial style building. When I started reminiscing about this, I looked up the area, Kew Garden Hills and was so happy to know that the landmarks of the bank built in 1941 is still there. A few blocks up is the Synagogue that I remember and a few blocks down from the Bank is the Catholic Church I remember. I would love to have a chance to go look at it again and see if the Deli across the street from the bank is still there! I am fairly certain the A& P the sight of my illustrious career as a chicken sniffer in not there anymore.
The library, was within walking distance of my house. One day, coming out of the library, a crowd had gathered on Vleigh Place, an elevated platform that had been erected quickly and then taken down. Speaking was a woman who I will never forget, Eleanor Roosevelt. I certainly had heard her name, but here she was, right in my neighborhood. At first her appearance frightened me, and her voice was odd, but I listened for a few moments and there was no doubt that I was in the presence of greatness. I have tried to find evidence of her stop there, but I can’t. I know she was very involved in having libraries in all locales. It was a few minutes, in the middle of the day at a very unimportant spot, but I never forgot it.
I know I have written about my meeting the great opera singers, Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
I met and had a little individual discussion when I moved to Virginia with our now State Senator, Tim Kaine.
The very best and most exciting for me though, was my encounter with Paul Newman, the actor.
My mother never let me skip school for any reason. Of course if I was ill, that didn’t count. I was shocked one day when she told me she wanted me to come with her to see the release of a new movie called EXODUS. I was about 13 or so, and this was a luncheon after viewing the movie. This was a presentation sponsored by one of the organizations she belonged to. The book, which I had read was realised many years before.
We got there early, and were seated toward the front of the movie theater. The place filled up, quickly. After a short speech from the organziation that was sponsoring this event, we saw the movie. WOW!
Well, it was now lunch. The dignified ladies started to stampede out of the movie theater. I exited my aisle, and promptly tripped and fell. The ladies were like a herd of buffalo! They just walked over me. My mother couldn’t see me. All of a sudden a pair of hands reached in and pulled me up. The man asked me if I was OK, It was Paul Newman! I couldn’t talk! I mean nothing came out of my mouth. When he realized he was the cause of my shock, he just smiled and said, I’ll see you inside.” He was the guest of honor and speaker. OMG! I have loved him since that moment. I insisted that I get the sheet music to the theme. I practiced that piece over and over. My piano teacher said, “I wish you loved other pieces as much as this one.”
